Media Constructions of Martin Luther King Jr.

PowerPoint Slide Show, Lesson 1

Media Chronology

Media• Messages conveyed through visuals, language and/or sound

• (Mass) produced for a (mass) audience mediated by a form of technology

• The producer of the message is not in the same place as the receiver of the message

What media forms have you experienced today?

• Radio• Television • Newspapers, Magazines• Internet

Types of Media

• Advertising in All Forms• Videos, DVDs, Films• Computer & Video Games• Recorded Music (e.g., CDs)• Other…

Are Books Media?• Messages conveyed through visuals, language and/or sound

• (Mass) produced for a (mass) audience mediated by a form of technology

• The producer of the message is not in the same place as the receiver of the message

What are other sources of messages thatwe might not think of as “media”?

Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and produce media in a variety of forms.

Media Literacy

Each Media Form Has Different QualitiesWhat are the qualities of books?• require print literacy

• can be read at a variable pace

• text allows the reader to create their own images

• relatively easy to mass produce and access

• easy to re-read and review as you go along

• lots of books to choose from

• portable and easy to store

• fun to curl up with in bed

• OTHER…

MEDIA LITERACY QUESTIONS for analyzing media documents about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

What are the messages about Dr. King in this document?

How are those messages communicated?

Who produced this document, and for what purpose?

When was this produced, and what was its historical context?

Who was the target audience?

Is this an accurate and credible representation of Dr. King?

How does this reflect the perspective or bias of its creator?

What information or perspective is left out of this message?

How might different people interpret this message differently?

Who might benefit from – and who might be harmed by – this message?

A Media Chronology

How 50,000 Negroes found a new way to

end racial discrimination

December 5, 1955WALK TO FREEDOM

December 21, 1956VICTORY FOR JUSTICE

World Almanac Library

19631958

1964 1967

Arriving in New Delhi, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is greeted by Mrs. Sucheta Kripalani, secretary of the governing Congress Party. King, who led Montgomery Protest patterned after Indian campaign of Mahatma Gandhi, was welcomed as a hero. Said he: “To other countries I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim.”

Common

A Dream

(2006)

Music VideoExcerpt

[2:04]

Click Here to Play

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King leads marchers from Browns Chapel Methodist Church in Selma.

Beyond Vietnam

(1967 Speech)

2006 InternetVideo Excerpt

[1:00]

Click Here to Play

Nina Simone“Why?

(The King of Love is Dead)”

(1968)

SongExcerpt

[1:00]

Click Here to Play

HappyBirthday

(1980)

Internet VideoExcerpt

[1:00]

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Click Here to Play

Public Enemy

“By the Time I Get to Arizona”

(1991)

Music VideoExcerpt

[2:06]

Click Here to Play